Temporary and Disability Assistance, Office of

Agency Web Site: http://otda.ny.gov/

Mission

The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), working in close collaboration with the Office of Children and Family Services and other agencies, helps low-income households achieve economic self-sufficiency through work, job training and the provision of supportive services that help avert dependency on public assistance. OTDA also provides economic assistance to aged and disabled persons who are unable to work.

Budget Highlights

The Executive Budget recommends $5.73 billion for the agency. This is a decrease of $2.56 million from the 2012-13 budget. The decrease primarily reflects increases in authority for Federal grant programs offset by a decrease in State public assistance authority to reflect the current caseload composition.

The Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 1,890 FTEs for OTDA, which reflects the transfer of 228 FTEs to the new Office for Information and Technology Services in the current year. This is an increase of 30 FTEs from the 2012-13 budget. The increase reflects the transfer of staff who work on housing capital development to the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the addition of staff related to the takeover of the SSI State supplementation program from the Federal government that was authorized in the 2012-13 enacted Budget as well as a partial reduction in the backfilling of positions vacated by attrition.

Major budget actions include:

• Streamlining Administration of Homeless Housing Development: The Division of Housing and Community Renewal administers an array of capital housing development programs, including over $1.2 billion of Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance separately administers the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP), a $30 million program to develop homeless housing. On average, about one third of HHAP projects also receive funding through DHCR. Having two State agencies involved in the same capital housing projects creates inefficiencies for both developers and the State in terms of duplicative applications, underwriting, and compliance monitoring. Transferring HHAP to DHCR would create a more streamlined process for developers, further encouraging supportive housing development, and would also create a more efficient process for the State, reducing duplicative efforts and increasing the effectiveness of the State's housing programs. OTDA staff would transfer to DHCR, preserving programmatic expertise, and DHCR would continue to work closely with OTDA on service components.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Human Services (PDF)

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/22/2013

Click for additional detailed appropriation tables